Nigerian Government Offended by New PS3 Advert

If you pay attention to any form of mass media, be it television, radio or the Internet, you’ve probably seen or heard Sony’s new marketing campaign adverts. The feedback that we’ve seen has been almost all positive, and everyone seems to think the new ads are good. Except, of course, the Nigerian Government.

So what exactly has their feathers ruffled?

The advert in question was being aired in the United States, and it shows a young male questioning a supposed Sony representative about the price cut rumors on the web. The representative claims that if he believed everything he read on the Internet, he’d be a Nigerian millionaire by now.

The ad was supposed to be poking fun at all the Internet rumors that were swirling around about the PS3 price cut, before the price cut in question was made official. According to The Nigerian Minister of Information and Communication, that’s not the only thing it poked fun at.

“Nigeria remains a major investment destination and a country where most businesses thrive in trust, good faith, competence and integrity.

Nigeria also demands an unconditional apology from Sony Corporation for this deliberate negative campaign against the country’s image and reputation.

The apology must be given the same measure of publicity by Sony Corporation in all channels where the unfortunate adverts were aired.

In the light of the above, the Federal Government of Nigeria requests Sony Corporation to immediately withdraw that advertisement from circulation” – The Minister of Information and Communication, Prof Dora Akunyili

Shortly after this statement was made public, Sony released their own statement on PlayStation.com, regarding the allegations.

“It has come to our attention that a recent TV advertisement for PlayStation may have offended some members of the Nigerian community. We never intended to create a situation that would upset anyone, and we have taken action to immediately remove the advertisement from the air. We apologize to anyone this may have offended.” – Patrick Seybold, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at SCEA

Sony not only pulled the ad from their campaign, but they replaced it shortly thereafter:

So what do you readers think about this? Is the ad really offensive, or is the Nigerian government taking it a little too seriously?